Process of treating phosphate-rock and producing compounds of phosphorus and nitrogen.



lUNlTEE *rairias Patented May 9, 1905.

ATENT truce.

FLORENTINE J. MACHALSKE, OF BROOKLYN NETV YORK, ASSIGNOR TO FREDERICKDARLINGTON, OF GREAT BARRINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

PROCESS OF TREATING PHOSPHATE-ROCK AND PRODUCING COMPOUNDS OF PHOSPHORUSAND NITROGEN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 789,439, dated May 9,1905.

Application filed February 25, 1905. Serial No. M7343.

1'0 all. 20/1/0121 it put concern.-

Be it known that I, FLORENTINE .T. MA- oiiALsKn, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing in the borough of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings andState of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inProcesses of Treating Phosphate-Rock and Producing lom pounds ofPhosphorus and Nitio gen, of which the following is a specification.

According to this process rock containing tricalcium phosphate,especially low-grade rock having a phosphate contents of below seventyand down to fifty per cent., is crushed and mixed with an alkali-metalchlorid and carbon. The mixture is smelted at a temperature sufficientto decompose the rock and effect the production of phosphoric chlorid.Nitrogen or air or other gas containing nitrogen is blown through orbrought in contact with the charge in the smelting-furnace, and thecalcium and sodium combine with carbon and nitrogen to producecyanamids. The preferred charge consists of a water-free mixture ofcrushed rock and sodium chlorid and an excess of carbon in the form ofbroken coke, and the smelting is preferably effected in an electricfurnace. The production of the cyanamids is presumably effected in twostages, the first reaction being the production of the carbids, whichthereupon combine with nitrogen. The successive reactions may berepresented by the following equations:

(1 oa..(POi)2+ 10NaCl+2elC (2) [Cd/(32+ N212C21+ TN 3 off from thefurnace and may be treated with water for the production of phosphoricand hydrochloric acids. The calcium-sodium cyanamids may be treated withwater for the production of calcium and sodium carbonates and ammonia,the reaction being represented by the following equation:

The cyanamids may also be mixed with sodium carbonate and smelted in anelectric furnace for the production of sodium cyanid, as described in myapplication, Serial N 0. 247, 344:, of even date herewith.

fl. claim 1. The process of treating rock containing calcium phosphate,which consists in mixing the rock with an alkali-metal chlorid andcarbon, and smelting the mixture at a high temperature in the presenceof nitrogen, thereby producing a chlorid of phosphorus and cyanamids ofcalcium and the alkali metal, as set forth.

2. The process of treating rock containing calcium phosphate, Whichconsists in mixing the rock with sodium chlorid and an excess of carbon,and smelting the mixture at a high temperature in the presence ofnitrogen, thereby producing phosphoric chlorid and cyanainids of calciumand sodium, as set forth.

3. The process of treating rock containing calcium phosphate, whichconsists in mixing the rock with an alkali-metal chlorid and carbon, andelectrically smelting the mixture at a high temperature in the presenceof nitrogen, thereby producing a chlorid of phosphorus and cyanamids ofcalcium and the alkali metal, as set forth.

4:. The process of treating rock containing calcium phosphate, whichconsists in mixing the rock with sodium chlorid and an excess of carbon,and electrically smelting the mixture at a high temperature in thepresence of nitrogen, thereby producing phosphoric chlorid and cyanamidsof calcium and sodium, as set forth.

5. The process of treating rock containing clucing ammonia andcarbonates of calcium calcium phosphate, which consists in mixing andthe alkali metal, as set forth. IO the rock with an alkali-metalchloritl and car- In testimony whereof I afix my signature in hon,smelting the mixture at a high temperapresence of two witnesses.

5 ture in the presence of nitrogen, thereby pro- FLORENTINE J.MACHALSKE.

clucing a chlorid of phosphorus and cyanalVitnesses: micls of calciumand the alkali metal, and treat- JNO. B. CAMPBELL,

ing the cyanamicls with water, thereby pro- WVM. P. MITCHELL.

